Modern consumer and industrial electronic devices require storage of information, such as digital photographs, electronic mail, calendar, or contacts. These devices can be electronic systems, such as notebook computers, desktop computers, servers, televisions, and projectors, and are providing increasing levels of functionality to support modern life. Preserving the user data stored in the storage devices is of the utmost importance.
Different approaches have been used to record the data on magnetic media. Many recording head structures have evolved to provide the highest probability of performing a clean write of the data on the first attempt. This can have both performance and data reliability consequences. By assuring the data is correctly written on the magnetic media, the probability of burdensome data preservation processes can be reduced. The proper control of the recording head while writing data is of the utmost importance to prevent data on adjacent tracks from becoming corrupted due to unintended encroachment of the track boundaries.
Many of these data preservation processes can consume time, device resources, and can compete with interface operations. The cost associated with the data preservation processes must be mitigated in order to balance the device availability and the protection of the data stored there. Since the preservation of the data is the primary task of the device, availability of the interface functions for retrieving or storing data can be a primary focus and sometime to the detriment of the physical device, allowing such things as head wear, media damage, or component failures.